


better this way

by SinginInTheRaine



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Adoption, Backstory, Family, Family Feels, Gen, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-11
Updated: 2019-04-11
Packaged: 2020-01-11 19:10:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18430292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SinginInTheRaine/pseuds/SinginInTheRaine
Summary: The man and the woman didn't see the little boy hiding under the bed. Michael knew, even then, it was better that way.





	better this way

**Author's Note:**

  * For [salazarastark](https://archiveofourown.org/users/salazarastark/gifts).



He was hiding under the bed when they came in. No one knew he was there. The women at the orphanage who were supposed to take care of them probably thought he had escaped off to somewhere again. They never seemed to look for him anymore.

Even then, he knew why. He was “odd,” “difficult,” “challenging.” All excuses to not bother with him.

Isobel and Max, they were the opposite of him. “Cute” and “sweet” and “such beautiful children.”

This time, he knew before it happened what was going to occur. He could tell in the way the woman’s eyes lit up when she saw Isobel and Max, hugging each other in the back of the room, both staring with wide, hopeful eyes at the couple advancing toward them. Next to the woman was the man, with a big smile and eyes that almost seemed to literally twinkle.

Michael could see it then — the big house that Max and Isobel would get to go off and live in, the hugs and kisses and attention they would get from this woman and this man. They would be cooked for, cared for, looked after.

They would be happy. He wanted that for them. Had wanted that for all of them. Until he had pushed that kid who was trying to hurt Isobel. And not with his hands.

“Don’t do that again!” Isobel had whispered to him frantically, later that night. Michael had run at the kid once he had fallen, trying to pummel him with his hands. Anything to make sure the kid hadn’t really known what had happened.

“I didn’t _mean_ to!” he had snapped back at her, and she had shrunken back into Max’s side, looking hurt and sad.

Even then, he had seen their future. Max and Isobel would be adopted — Max and Isobel _needed_ to be adopted. They were both so innocent, so pure. He wanted a better life for them, one where they would be safe.

But watching them go was not as easy as he had told himself it would be when he talked it out with himself in the mirror before getting in a fight with another kid. Anything to keep the attention on himself and not the other two.

Hiding under the bed, he watched as the woman and the man bent down before Isobel and Max.

“Hello,” the woman said, so warmly it made Michael’s heart hurt.

“They’re going to take you,” Michael told the other two that night as they sat in the little room where all the kids were fed, picking at some dry chicken and blobs of stuff that they couldn’t identify.

“Don’t be silly,” Max told him. “We’re a package deal.” And he nodded his head resolutely, as if that solved the issue right then and there.

“That’s right!” Isobel chimed in. She grinned at her two boys. “Always us together.”

Michael shrugged. “Nah,” he said. “Only you two are the package deal.”

Isobel frowned. “Don’t say that, Michael. We won’t leave you.”

“You have to,” he said. “If they want you, you have to go.” He lowered his voice and his head. “It’ll be safer for all of us.”

“We will not leave you,” Max said stubbornly.

“Yes, you will,” Michael said again. “You have to.”

•••

“We won’t leave you!” Isobel cried four weeks later. They were standing in the little room where they had slept since they had been picked up, walking the streets toward the town that was called Roswell. Now, little suitcases were next to Isobel and Max’s beds, filled with the very few possessions they had — a couple shirts, pants and undergarments, provided to them when they first arrived, a tiny bear one of the women who worked here had given Isobel and some rocks Max had picked up and stashed in his pocket from the outside play area.

The woman and the man were on their way “to sign some paperwork and take you home,” the woman at the orphanage had said earlier.

Max glanced out the window. They had all seen the woman and the man walk up the sidewalk to the front door a little bit earlier. They all knew it was any time now.

“We can still escape,” he said.

“Yes!” Isobel said.

“Don’t be stupid,” Michael said. “We have no where to go. We can’t take care of ourselves in this place.”

“We won’t leave you,” Max said. He crossed his arms and scowled. 

“I can take care of myself,” Michael told him.

“We can too!” Isobel said.

“You cannot,” Michael said. “You’re weak.”

Isobel pouted, hurt crossing her face immediately. Max scowled more.

“We’re supposed to be a package deal,” Isobel said softly. “We always said so.”

Her eyes were so wide, so sad. Max was still scowling, but Michael could see the hurt deep inside him too.

He turned around. “Whatever,” he said. “Maybe the package is better broken up.”

•••

He was hiding under the bed when the man and the woman came up to their little room for the final time. They smiled at Max and Isobel and presented them both with a gift. Michael couldn’t watch them open it. He curled up under the bed and stared at his fingers.

He only peeked out when he heard the door to the room close behind the man and the woman, Max and Isobel and their two suitcases. 

He hurried to the window and peeked out. A few minutes later, he saw the four of them walk down the sidewalk that led away from the front door of this place they had been living since that fateful day.

He felt something sting his eyes, and he clenched his fists, letting his nails dig into his skin.

It was better this way. If they could forget about him and move on with their lives, if they could let his man and this woman care for them …

They would be okay. And he could take care of himself. He could.

He pressed his nose against the window. The foursome had stopped beside a shiny black car. The man was loading the suitcases into the trunk. The woman was helping Max into the car.

Isobel turned around, looking up.

Michael didn’t know how, but Isobel’s eyes met his.

“Package deal,” she mouthed, and then she was getting in the car, too.

Michael slid down the wall, biting his lip, eyes stinging, as the car slowly pulled away.

Yes, he thought, it was better this way. At least for now.


End file.
